Back to School

Corbin, Maggie, and Kent started school this week at Green Acres. Corbin is in 6th grade, Maggie 4th, and Kent 2nd. They (and me) were all so ready for school to be back in. Kent loved the first three days. He came home every day so excited and happy that he has the best teacher, Mrs. Quigley, and they do the funnest math. Maggie of course loves it all and is excited to learn. Corbin said his teacher is great and he has a fun teacher. It will be a great year! Claire was quite sad they all left her! She had back to school night on Thursday and cannot wait until her school starts!

Maggie was already off with her friends before I could get them all on their bikes, but the boys were willing to get one picture. Van slept until about five minutes after the kids left. That always makes the first day easier for me.

Ashton, ID

For the Jenkins vacation this year we went to Ashton, ID, right on Henry's Fork. It was a full week, Monday through Saturday, and so much fun! I drove up with the kids on Monday because Matt had to work. That is so not like me, but the kids pressured me into it. Corbin and Maggie got offers to go up with cousins and the other kids were not happy about it. We didn't have anything so I decided to go for it. It wasn't a bad drive at all.

 Tuesday we went to Mesa Falls to see the falls and do the nature hike. That was one of my favorite parts. I wish Matt could have been there. We have done it before, but I really like it. It was fun to take all the little down the nature trail. It was about two miles and we did lots of talking and stories while we walked.

We did a lot of tubing down the river in tubes, rafts, and kayaks. I just went down one time in a tube, mostly I stayed with Van. It was an adventure though. Maggie, Kent, and I went together and we got separated in the first five minutes. Maggie got scared because she had a wasp by her so Kent went on alone and I had to get off my tube and rescue Maggie by waiting for her and switching tubes. After the dramatic beginning it was a great ride with me and Maggie just talking the whole way.

There were plenty of games and just hanging out too. We drove through Bear World and did the few little amusement park rides there.

On Friday we went up to Big Springs and West Yellowstone. Maggie and Corbin were in different vehicles almost every where we went so we ended up just catering to Claire and Van mostly. Kent was just along for the ride because he would rather be playing a the cabin than being out and about. The cabin had a fun hot tub. We even got to have a small fire just big enough to roast a few smores right next to the river. Corbin had planned an activity for each kid to make their own boat and we had races in the river. Overall, a lot of fun family time! My favorite is just having enough time to do nothing and visit with everyone.

Mark enjoyed the area so much he looked at some property while we were there, just down the road from where we stayed. He ended up buying it and is planning to build a cabin there next spring. 

Family Pictures

 Picture overload! I love getting family pictures taken! Jami Tolman took my family pictures at Beus Pond a couple weeks ago. I wasn't expecting much because Van was pretty grumpy, but I am super happy with them.

Camping at Causey

 We went up to the Holmes property in Causey last weekend. It was Colby and Cayley, Austin and Shawnee, and us. My kids had so much fun. Matt took Corbin, Maggie, and Kent up Thursday night after Maggie's soccer practice. They came home late that night because of the rain. The next morning we all went up. The kids had air soft wars and shot at targets. We played Kan Jam, the frisbee game. We went to Causey to let the dogs clean off and we all came back a muddy mess, but they had a lot of fun. Camping is always just an adventure in itself. Van actually did really good. I thought he would hate it all because he is crawling everywhere and putting everything in his mouth he can find. He played in the trailer and in the pack and play and just enjoyed what was going on. In the evening the Lattin's and Martini's came up for dinner. I left Friday night and took Van home to sleep, but Matt stayed overnight with the other kids. They had so much fun. I am glad we got in one camping trip this summer.